Jeff and Kaki matched on Tinder in March of 2018 while Jeff was visiting New Orleans but residing in San Francisco. Their first date was pure romance: an 11:30 am Wednesday lunch with no alcohol and a split check, followed by a prompt return to work. Despite the lack of “fireworks,” they proceeded to chat via social media. Eventually, Jeff convinced Kaki to fly to San Francisco to spend Pride weekend with him. It was during this second date that they had their first kiss, and realized they might have something special on their hands. After their second date, Jeff expressed his desire to pursue a relationship, and Kaki asked what their “best-case scenario” was, given the distance between them. Without hesitation, Jeff agreed that he would return to New Orleans when his lease ended. The countdown began and, in the meantime, they talked almost every morning and evening, texted constantly, and saw each other as much as possible, referring to each visit as one of their “dates” (whether it be a few hours or a few weeks). As promised, after one year of long-distance dating, Jeff and his two cats drove 2,300 miles to move in with Kaki and her two dogs, thus “date fifteen forever” was born. To date, they have traveled to 18 states and 5 countries together.

Kaki proposed the old fashioned way: courtside at a Pistons game with a jumbotron and a Rolex. Jeff went home to Michigan for a week to visit his family and friends, while Kaki stayed behind for work. During his visit, Jeff planned to attend the Detroit Pistons game on December 6 and helped coordinate a small reunion of his friends to join him at the game. Unbeknownst to him, Kaki was behind this reunion and Jeff was actually inviting the attendees for his own engagement. On December 6, Jeff believed that Kaki was working in Miami, but she was actually working in Detroit. He went to the Pistons game unsuspectingly with his friends and, to his surprise, had courtside tickets courtesy of his friend Blake (partial credit to Kaki's scheming with Blake). But the surprises did not end there. At half time, Jeff's attention was directed to the jumbotron, which read: "Jeff, will you marry me? -Kaki" The feed then changed to a live video of Kaki walking across the basketball court. When Jeff turned, Kaki was at his side. She took a knee, presented the watch, and said, "Jeffrey Bazzi, will you marry me?" Jeff emphatically said “YES” and the rest is history.